Monday, December 17, 2012

Benghazi Back in Spotlight

After months of accusations and political recriminations,
the State Department is getting ready to present the most detailed explanation
yet regarding the circumstances surrounding the deadly attack on the U.S.
consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Monday, the State Department is expected to get a report on
the incident from the independent Advisory Review Board, sources in the State
Department told CNN Sunday. The review was ordered by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton.

Congress will receive the report from the board ahead of a
classified briefing for members on Wednesday by Thomas Pickering, who led the
Advisory Review Board. Retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was also on the panel, will be part of the briefing
as well.

The State Department is also expected to present
recommendations on improving security. That's likely to include an explanation
of measures that have already been put in place since the September 11 attack
on the consulate, which left four Americans - including U.S. Amb. Chris Stevens
- dead.

On Thursday, Deputy Secretaries Bill Burns and Tom Nides
will testify about Benghazi before
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The two are substituting for Clinton, who
is recovering from a concussion she suffered after fainting due to
dehydration from a stomach virus.

The politics surrounding the attack and how it was
characterized by the Obama administration have already scuttled the ambitions
of U.S.
ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, whose name was in the running to succeed Clinton
as secretary of state.

Critics said Rice's comments about the attack on Sunday news
programs in the immediate aftermath were out of line with the true intelligence
about the incident, and were an attempt by the administration to avoid tying it
to terrorism.